Heineken defies alcohol regulations and creates one of the coolest music platforms in France

Heineken is one of the few Brands that tirelessly innovates in how they market their product, resulting in exceptional creative work. Whether it is reinventing the way you recruit summer interns (see here), consistently leveraging a sports property in ground-breaking ways that make their consumer adore them (see their Champions League work here and here and here), finding innovative ways to make the most out of music festivals (see barcode idea and Helsinki music act idea), Heineken never seems to rest on their laurels and surprise us again and again.

A recent example of their innovative marketing thinking is music activation that they developed in France, one of the strictest markets in the world for alcohol marketing. Given that no alcohol brand is allowed to market under their name, Heineken came up with a platform and label called Green Room Session. Using their recognized visual identity, they set up a platform that supported different bands, their tours, and their music.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Ed Banger records, Heineken’s “covertly branded” Green Room Session launched a mini website in the form of a Facebook-style timeline. Fans are given access to a ton of Ed Banger content, be it music, videos, interviews, facts, trivia, giveaways, etc. The creative is absolutely brilliant and makes you want to scroll further and further down the site. It is an absolute work of art. The more you look, the more you discover pieces of content that you can play with. Have a look at the site (see it here). It is in French but you can understand most of it due to the visuals.

Heineken also developed a “Green Room Session” Facebook page (called Fangate) where tickets to different Ed Banger bands could be won. With all this great content, you truly wouldn’t think that Heineken was legally hand-cuffed, but they certainly are in France due to the laws. Its just another example of how their marketers thought outside of the box and pushed their idea to the extreme. Brilliant.